


Every Broken Heart Knows

by coatlicue



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Cheryl Blossom Deserves Better 2K17, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Post Cheryl's Suicide Attempt, When I say comfort I mean COMFORT, cheronica, it's pretty gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-10 10:04:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11689380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coatlicue/pseuds/coatlicue
Summary: The pale arm that is usually draped over Veronica's midsection is a comforting reminder that she's still alive. It's easy to forget that when the image of Cheryl's blue-tinted lips are imprinted on the bottom of her eyelids.Or, Veronica has trouble sleeping. Cheryl has trouble believing that she'll stay. But these two love each other so much; they figure it out.





	Every Broken Heart Knows

**Author's Note:**

> This work was inspired by Jasmine Thompson's cover of "Like I'm Gonna Lose You" which has become my favorite thing.

Veronica has trouble sleeping now.

It's 1:08 AM when she awakens in a familiar bed and turns around, expecting to find a red mess of curls draped over the next pillow.

Instead, she is met with cold sheets. Her heart goes into overdrive without permission, and she is afraid that she'll close her eyes and be taken back to the river that almost swallowed Cheryl whole. That Archie won't be there, it'll just be her and just her won't be enough.

With Thornhill nothing more than a pile of ashes, Veronica has grown used to the comfort of having Cheryl next to her when her nightmares pull her out of a fitful sleep. The pale arm that is usually draped over Veronica's midsection a comforting reminder that she's still alive.

It's easy to forget that when the image of Cheryl's blue-tinted lips are imprinted on the bottom of her eyelids.

Her thoughts are interrupted by a loud bang from Veronica's bathroom. She throws the blankets off herself and sprints towards the source of the noise. The sound of something breaking reminds her way too much of the fateful moment the ice cracked and Cheryl fell through it.

"Cheryl! Are you okay?"

Veronica rounds the corner to find a sobbing Cheryl hunched over the bathroom counter. "Cher..."

"Go away," The redhead says, her back still to Veronica.

"No. Please, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. Nothing. Please, go away."

Veronica's heartbeat quickens as she remembers the pain-stricken look on Cheryl's face right before she fell. She wasn't speaking back then, but Veronica imagines that if she was then she would sound like this.

She inhales sharply, "No. Please, Cheryl, I love you. Tell me what's wrong."

"Go away, Veronica! I don't want to. Go away!"

"No." Veronica says before walking towards Cheryl and turning her around, cradling her head in an attempt to hold her together. She knows it's not enough, but that doesn't stop her from trying.

"No. I'm not going anywhere, please." Cheryl pounds her closed fists against Veronica's chest, "Go ahead, hit me, let it all out. I don't care. I'm not fucking leaving, Cheryl."

"Go away! Leave! It's not that hard to understand, Veronica, I want you to leave!" The redhead's face contorts into something way worse than hatred: misery.

"I'm not leaving you. I can't." Veronica says, and Cheryl turns away from her again. She grabs a glass angel off the counter and throws it against the floor. It shatters into a million tiny pieces. The only sound that follows the crash is Cheryl's loud and labored breathing.

"Did that make you feel better?"

Cheryl doesn't respond. Instead, she drops onto the floor on her knees and begins to pick up the broken pieces of the angel. Veronica quickly puts a hand under her arm and picks her up from the floor.

"Are you fucking insane? There's glass there, you're going to cut yourself." Her eyes travel down to Cheryl's legs which are dotted with pricks of blood. "Fuck, Cheryl."

"Why aren't you leaving?" She asks, her voice clouded with tears. "Everybody else does."

"Cheryl," Veronica sighs, pulling the girl into her arms in an attempt to quell the ache in her own chest. Cheryl buries her head into a tan neck and sobs. "I love you. I'm not leaving because I love you. That's what it means to love someone."

Cheryl sniffles, "I'm sorry. I don't always know what that means. J-Jason's gone and I don't know what the hell I'm doing."

"I know, baby, I know." Veronica feels a tear escape out of the corner of her eye. "But you have me. You'll _always_ have me"

She only responds with sobs, and Veronica bends down to hook her arm under her knees and pull her off her feet. Cheryl wraps her arms around Veronica's neck, "Please don't go."

Veronica presses a feather-light kiss to Cheryl's head, "I'd never dream of it."

She plops Cheryl down on the bathroom counter and frowns, "We have to clean those."

Cheryl shakes her head, "I'm fine."

"You're bleeding."

"I..."

Veronica cuts her off with a quick peck to the lips and then says, "I have a first aid kit in here." She reaches down under the counter and grabs a small white box.

"Sorry, this might sting a bit." She says as she dabs alcohol onto a cotton ball.

"I think I can handle it." Cheryl says. Veronica's heart splits in two because the words are a brutal reminder that, yes, she can handle it. This girl has been through so much already. Veronica leans in to press a single kiss to the redheads forehead, hoping that the action can convey all of the messages she wants to give to her. _I know_ and _I'm sorry_ and _I wish I could have done more._

She pulls back to find the redhead staring at her with such openness, so trusting and kind and beautiful. Veronica wonders how the hell she got so lucky.

Veronica wipes away the blood on the redheads pale legs, the red a sharp contrast to her milky skin. It reminds her of the way Archie's blood tainted the water a sickly shade of auburn as he broke through the ice.

Veronica presses the bandaids against the punctures on her skin. She presses a kiss to the biggest one and smiles up at Cheryl's tear stained face. "There, all better."

She smiles, and her expression is quickly clouded over by a serious one. "Thank you for staying. I don't know if anyone else would have."

"I'll always stay. Besides, you're in my house, I can't exactly leave." Veronica coaxes a smile out of Cheryl. "But seriously, I told you before and I'll tell you again, you always have a warm fire and a hug here when you need one."

The corners of Cheryl's mouth turn up in the most tender way that Veronica has ever seen. "I... I love you."

Veronica smiles. She's been saying the three little words to Cheryl for weeks, but the redhead hasn't been able to say them back. Even then, she would keep saying them for years. Just to keep seeing her smile like that. "Really?"

"Really." Cheryl wraps her legs around Veronica's waist and pulls her impossibly close, their foreheads touching. "Thank you for being patient with me."

"I'd wait forever, Cheryl Blossom." Veronica smiles at her but doesn't miss the way Cheryl flinches when she hears her last name. Veronica Lodge is no idiot, she knows that the girl feels it is more of a curse than a blessing nowadays. But Veronica knows a little something about being weighed down by a name, and she won't let Cheryl suffer through the same. "It's your last name too, Cheryl. And Jason's. You're allowed to take pride in it."

Cheryl sighs, leaning forward to press her forehead against Veronica's again. "Being a Blossom has brought me pretty much nothing but trouble."

"Think of it as a reminder of Jason. You'll carry that little piece of him with you wherever you go."

"Thank you." Cheryl says for what feels like the hundredth time that night. "So I guess this means that you're taking my name?"

Veronica laughs, but also notices the way that her heart flutters at the thought of a future with her. "We'll hyphenate."

Cheryl's hands find the back of Veronica's neck and pull her in for a soft kiss. When she finally pulls away she does so with a sigh, "I'm just so fucking angry." She spits, "And sad. And I don't know which emotion I should be feeling. I want to yell and break things and cry all at once."

"Okay." Veronica ponders for a moment. "Let's go, then. I'm sure there are some ugly plates in my mom's kitchen that we can break."

Cheryl chuckles sadly, "Thank you for being willing, but... I don't think that breaking plates and making noise is going to make me any less broken."

Veronica feels her heart split again, "Cheryl... I... I think you need help. Real, professional, help. To help you through the things you can't tell me. The things about Jason and your parents and everything. I'll help any way I can but... I'm out of my depth here."

Cheryl takes a shaky breath, "I know. I know. I... I'll make an appointment tomorrow. But tonight..."

"What do you need, baby? Tell me what you need and I'll give it to you."

"Hold me?" She asks, her voice heartbreakingly small, like she assumes Veronica will say no."

"With a girl as pretty as you, how could I say no?" Veronica kisses the top of her head, "All you have to do is ask."


End file.
